


Beauty and the Bad Decision

by Scouts_Mockingbird



Category: Heathers (1988), Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: F/M, Gift Fic, Memes, Modern AU, Multiple Pov, Pure AU, Teenaged Angst Bullshit, alternate cafeteria scene, but not as much as usual, kinda random
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-03-06 18:24:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13417011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scouts_Mockingbird/pseuds/Scouts_Mockingbird
Summary: “You!” Veronica gasped, more surprised than she should have been.  “You’re No Name guy! The one with all the weird pictures!”He smiled, “You can call me JD, if that’s easier.  You’re Veronica, the girl who should really have a lock on her airdrop.”An alternate "How they met" story.





	Beauty and the Bad Decision

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Retro_pure_jdonica](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Retro_pure_jdonica/gifts).



> Hey! This story is my first Giveaway fic. For every fifty followers I get on Tumblr, I do do a raffle and the winner can request (pretty much) anything and I'll write it for them. My first ever winner was Tumblr user @Boopedsnoop (AO3: Retro_Pure_JDonica) and they requested a modern au alternate "how they met". Enjoy!

“God why does nothing every happen in this town!” Veronica groaned, shoving her books haphazardly into her locker. 

“Something is happening this weekend,” Heather McNamara reminded her, “The homecoming party at Ram’s house!” Heather, at least was excited about it. Personally, Veronica was dreading it. It was the first big party of the school year, which meant everyone was going to go wild. It wasn’t really her scene, but Heather Chandler was insisting they all go and they always did as Heather instructed.

“Oooh, we have a snapchat from Heather!” Only mildly interested in McNamara’s enthusiasm, Veronica glanced at her phone. Sure enough Heather Duke had sent them a picture of Heather and Veronica standing in the hallway. The caption read, “I see you”

Veronica replied with a picture of her own disgruntled face reading, “Don’t be a creep”.

Skipping over from her hiding place, Duke smiled at McNamara and Veronica. “Hey guys! What are you talking about? And where’s Heather?”

Chandler hadn’t shown up to their usual pre-lunch meeting place yet, and being late wasn’t like her. Both McNamara and Veronica shrugged, and McNamara ignored the question to fill Duke in on their conversation. “Veronica is bored, and she’s hoping Ram’s party is going to make her life more exciting!”

“Oooh,” Duke teased, “Are you hoping to hook up with a special someone? I heard a rumor that Kurt is into you.”

Veronica didn’t bother to hide her disgust. “Ew, Kurt is a Neanderthal! I have standards, and I highly doubt there’s a boy at this school who meets them.” Though Veronica hadn’t been on many dates, she had known these boys for most of her life, and while some of them were tolerable, none were very interesting.

“Never say never,” McNamara nudged Veronica, a mischievous grin on her face. “There’s a new kid, he’s in my American history. He’s not my type but you might think he’s cute.”

“Rating out of ten?” Duke asked, all business.

“Hmm,” McNamara considered this as they started walking towards the cafeteria, finally giving up on waiting for Chandler. “I guess… maybe an eight? His clothes are terrible, but his face isn’t bad, and he’s really tall.”

An eight was at least two or three points higher than most of the other guys at school (the rumors that the Heathers had a spreadsheet ranking all the Westerburg guys out of ten was truer than they’d ever admit) so Veronica was extremely curious to see this new boy.

Chandler joined them right as they were about to walk into the cafeteria, “Why didn’t you bitches wait for me?”

Rolling her eyes, Veronica ignored Heather’s question. “Why were you late?”

Happy to embrace the opportunity to rant, Heather moaned dramatically, “Stupid Fleming kept us late because people started packing before the bell.”

As always, everyone was eager to complain about Fleming. “God that woman is such a hypocrite.”

“She always talks like she’s so into acceptance and free speech but the second you say something she doesn’t agree with, your grade drops!” Duke had recently gone head to head with her during a class about conflict resolution _,_ after which, some of her homework had mysteriously disappeared.

“And she takes attendance!” Mac’s spotty attendance record was legendary, and even Veronica and the other Heathers weren’t sure how she got away with it. Fleming was slightly better at keeping track of her students, which was more inconvenience than McNamara had faced in years.

Veronica tuned out of the conversation when her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket to see who was texting her, seeing as her friends were all with her and her mom never texted her during school. When it turned out not to be a text, Veronica couldn’t help being surprised and confused.

_Airdrop: Photo from No Name_

It was weird— maybe even creepy— but Veronica was intrigued, so she opened it. The picture was of goats that appeared to be hanging by their tongues off the side of a mountain. The caption read “they crave that mineral”.

“What the fuck?” Veronica muttered, staring at the picture.

The Heathers turned to her, confused. Chandler narrowed her eyes, “What, Veronica?”

“Nothing!” Veronica replied quickly, tucking her phone into her pocket before they could see the picture. “I just got a spam email, that’s all.”

Duke nodded, “The school seriously needs better security for our emails.”

Times like this made Veronica glad her friends tended towards the sycophantic. They didn’t press her about her “email” while they wandered into the lunch line and got food.

As usual, Westerburg’s cafeteria failed to supply anything edible, so they all sat down with trays full of food they would only pick at half-heartedly. Veronica’s eyes travelled habitually around the cafeteria and they settled on an unfamiliar face.

“Hey Heather, is that him?” She was referring to the new kid McNamara had mentioned earlier. The Heathers’ eyes travelled to the corner of the cafeteria where the newcomer sat alone, wearing headphones and reading.

Duke gave tilted her head appraisingly, “He’s kinda cute.”

“Yeah, if you’re into the ‘belongs in a mental institution’ look.” Chandler rolled her eyes and flicked her hand dismissively; the new boy was no longer allowed to have their attention.

Veronica sighed and looked down to see that her phone had another notification.

_Airdrop: Photo from No Name_

Unable to curb her curiosity, Veronica opened it. It was a picture from a Spiderman cartoon, with two Spidermans (Spidermen? Veronica wasn’t sure) pointing at each other. Sighing, Veronica closed her phone. Whoever was sending these was just playing a stupid prank.

Stupid or not, it was a little funny and it broke up the monotony of lunch with the Heathers. Veronica decided not to try and figure out how to lock her airdrop.

“Veronica?” Chandler asked, and Veronica was immediately suspicious of how innocent her tone was. Heather Chandler was never innocent. “Could you do me a little favor?”

“What?”

“I just need you to forge a sexy but realistic note in Kurt Kelly’s handwriting, it’s just something funny I’m giving to a friend.” Heather’s smile was syrup sweet, and Veronica knew her far to well to fall for it.

“Who’s it for, Heather?” Veronica didn’t like challenging Heather. Usually, she didn’t care enough to bother, but Heather’s pranks could be cruel.

Heather shrugged; changing tactics while Duke and McNamara averted their eyes. They were in on the joke, and obviously knew Veronica wouldn’t like it. Finally, Chandler answered. “It’s for Martha dump truck, okay? Just do it, it’ll be a laugh!”

“I don’t have anything against Martha Dunnstock, just leave her alone. What’s she ever done to you?” Veronica knew Martha hadn’t done anything to Chandler. Martha rarely spoke and definitely hadn’t done anything bad to anyone. Heather just hated that she existed for some reason.

“Fine.” Chandler squared her shoulders, “We’ll do it without the forgery. Heather, just use messy handwriting.” She handed a piece of notebook paper and a pencil to McNamara, who took it and started writing as Heather dictated.

Veronica tuned them out, disgusted both with them and with herself for not putting a stop to it. Thankfully, her phone buzzed to give her an excuse to look away.

_Airdrop: Photo from No Name_

Maybe no name guy could send her something to make her smile. She could really use it right now. This time it was a picture of a guy with weird hair and a slightly crazy expression. The caption read “Aliens!” In big white text. Veronica rolled her eyes and put her phone down. The first one had been funny in a weird way, the other two… hadn’t quite gotten there. They were just weird.

When her phone buzzed again, she was tempted not to check it, but the Heathers were still hard at work on the prank she should stop but wouldn’t. She looked at the picture instead of listening to them. This one was also weird and lacked context, but it was funny enough that she actually laughed aloud. The Heathers didn’t notice, but when she looked up she could feel eyes on her. The new kid sitting in the corner was watching her, but he looked away when she caught him. While he pretended to text, Veronica examined him as closely as she could from across the room.

He was good looking, definitely one of the best looking guys at school. Though, Heather did have a point about his clothes. They were rather dated, grungy, and dark; hardly at home in the conformist cafeteria of Westerburg. Still, Veronica appreciated someone who knew what they liked and stuck with it. She couldn’t help but want to get to know him a bit better.

           

Veronica tried to ignore the fallout from the prank but it was impossible. Martha ended up running out of the cafeteria in tears, while most students laughed at her and at Kurt’s dramatic reading of the letter. When her eyes drifted to the new kid’s table, Veronica saw his lips curl up in disgust. She looked away before he could catch her staring. Her guilt tasted like bile on her tongue and she once again ignored her friends in favor of her phone.  

            _Airdrop: Photo from No Name_

This time, the photo was accusatory, no longer just a dumb joke. A picture of one of the guys from the matrix, with bold white text saying “What if I told you… Your friends are assholes”.

Veronica looked around, searching for whoever sent this to her, but no one was looking at her. The students’ attention was still on Kurt’s increasingly mean impression of Martha. Angry and horrified, Veronica stood up and walked out of the cafeteria.

She took refuge in the girls bathroom while she tried to calm down. Whoever had sent her the pictures knew who she was, and thus had her at a disadvantage. Another notification popped up on her phone, and she opened it, ready to face another criticism.

Instead, it was a picture of a talk show host, with the caption “Why would I say something so controversial, and yet so brave?” Resolving not to open another photo, Veronica turned off her phone and stored it in her pocket.

When she returned to the lunchroom, everyone was standing, and most people were yelling and/or pointing to the corner of the room.

“What the fuck is going on?” Veronica demanded of Duke, who was standing closest to her.

“No idea, the new kid just went crazy and started beating the shit out of Kurt and Ram.” She sounded entirely too gleeful about the whole thing, and it made Veronica sick to her stomach.

The fight didn’t last very long. The new kid seemed to have won—if it was possible to win something like that—and he stood up and walked out of the cafeteria, wiping blood away from his nose. Kurt and Ram stood up shakily a moment later, looking bitter and vengeful. Despite Duke’s explanation, Veronica doubted that the new kid was the one to blame for all this. She knew Kurt and Ram well enough to know that they’d probably started it, especially since the other guy had spent lunch sitting quietly by himself—hardly the type to make a scene.

News of the fight spread through the hallways like wildfire. By the end of the day, the story had gotten wildly conflated. Veronica was listening to two freshman describe how the new kid had pulled out a gun and shot Kurt and Ram in the face.

Chandler was listening too, “God, what a psycho.”

“Heather, you were there, you know that’s not what happened. He didn’t have a gun, they just hit each other a couple times; no one was even hurt that badly.”

“They’re probably not even going to get in trouble, since no teachers actually saw it,” McNamara added.

Chandler wasn’t impressed. “They should throw his ass in jail, he’s clearly crazy.”

Too tired to argue, Veronica gave up. “I have to go home, I’ll see you guys on Saturday before the party.”

 

 

 

_HC: Can you bring me a diet coke and some corn nuts when you get here?_

Veronica was tempted to throw her phone out the window if it meant not having to be Heather Chandler’s errand girl, but she stopped herself. She needed her phone in case the party went horribly wrong, and there was a convenience store on the way to Ram’s house anyway, so it wouldn’t be that hard for her to walk there first. Plus, it was a handy excuse to be late to the party.

The walk took longer than it should have. Veronica’s new shoes were more for fashion than comfort, and though she looked great, she wished she could walk a little faster. Veronica slipped into the 7-11 and grabbed Heather’s corn nuts before turning her attention to the refrigerator.

“Fuck,” She muttered under her breath as she started at the diet coke on the top shelf. She reached up, and almost managed to get it, but couldn’t quite grab it enough to pull it down. “Fucking display discriminates against short people!”

Veronica reached up again, stretching and attempting to get _one more inch…_

“Wow, you really crave that mineral,” Gently pushing her aside, a tall figure reached up and grabbed the bottle, handing it to her with a smile.

“You!” Veronica stared up at him as she remembered why those words sounded so familiar. “You’re No Name guy! The one with all the weird pictures!”

He smiled, “You can call me JD, if that’s easier. You’re Veronica, the girl who should really have a lock on her airdrop.”

“Yeah, I probably should…” She smiled awkwardly, feeling strangely shy. She’d known he was good looking, but up-close… wow.

His lips quirked up into an uneven smile, “Do you know how?”

Too busy admiring his face; Veronica missed what he was asking. “What?”

“Your airdrop, do you know how to lock it?”

“Oh, that! Um… No.” Veronica chewed on her lip, feeling like a complete idiot.

But JD smiled, oblivious. “Here, give me your phone, I’ll do it. That way no other weird new kids can send you shitty memes.”

Veronica handed over her phone, and he fiddled with it for a minute, giving her ample time to admire him. His hair looked really soft, and he had a barely perceptible scar on his lower lip. She wondered if it was from a fight at his old school.”

He looked up, smiling, “Here you go, all fixed.”

“Thanks. To show my appreciation, why don’t you let me buy you a slushie?” She’d spoken without thinking, but couldn’t find it in herself to regret her words.

JD looked pleased, but he shook his head, “It wasn’t that hard, honestly.”

“Okay, what if it was to show my appreciation for punching Kurt Kelly in the face?”

The smile grew wide, reaching his eyes. _Holy shit he’s adorable._ “That, I will definitely accept.”

They wandered over to the slushie machine on the other side of the store, and each picked flavors, paid, and went outside.

“So,” JD started after they’d settled in, sitting against the cinderblock building. “You aren’t a fan of Kurt’s? I would think you guys run in the same crowd.”

Veronica bristled at the hit of condemnation in his voice. “No. Kurt’s an asshole, so is his friend Ram, in case you were wondering. The Heathers put up with them when they have to, but no one really likes them that much.”

He took a long sip from his slushie. “I don’t like them that much either. I didn’t start it, by the way. The fight, I mean.”

“I know,” Veronica assured him. She couldn’t help but wonder what he thought of her. He’d seen the prank on Martha. He probably thought she’d been a part of it. It surprised her that he’d care what she thought about the fight. Surely he realized she wasn’t any better?

They lapsed into a slightly awkward silence, and JD pulled out a package of cigarettes, flipping it around in his hands.

Veronica frowned at it, “You smoke?” Though she kind of liked the aesthetic of cigarettes, cancer wasn’t exactly a turn on.

JD looked up, surprised, “No, actually. I carry these around as a—“

“Shit, do _not_ say a metaphor!”

He burst out laughing, “No! Not that, I promise. I actually used to smoke, so it’s sort of a reminder, I guess? It probably seems dumb to carry around a box of something you used to be addicted to.”

“A little,” Veronica replied honestly, “but whatever works for you, I guess.”

The smile was back, softer this time and directed at her. She paused, her mouth halfway open as she considered saying something. His eyes darted unmistakably towards her lips. For a second, she thought he was going to kiss her.

But the moment passed. He looked away, staring at the half-frozen red liquid in his cup. “So, what brings you to 7-11 on a Saturday night?”

“I was on my way to this party, Heather asked me to grab mixer and a snack.” Veronica gestured to the other items she’d purchased. “Oh, SHIT!” Suddenly realizing how late she was, Veronica jumped up. “Sorry, JD, I have to go, Heather’s going to kill me.”

Veronica turned to walk away, but JD stopped her. “Veronica, if the party sucks, give me a call, I’ll come pick you up, okay? I umm,” He rubbed the back of his neck, not meeting her eyes, “I put my number in your phone while I was locking it.”

Surprisingly happy about this, Veronica smiled, “I might just do that. See you, JD!”

  

* * *

JD drove away and tried to focus on the road, instead of on Veronica. He was having some difficulty with it. Most days, the only living thing he talked to was his hamster; his conversation with Veronica was a huge (and welcome) departure from that. The fact that it’d ended so abruptly was more upsetting than he’d like to admit.

He was haunted by the moment when he’d almost kissed her. The instinct to do so had been overwhelming, but he’d resisted. It was too soon. He knew that if he’d done it, she would have been offended, and she had every right to be. Unlike the other times he’d started flirtations with girls at his schools, he wanted something different from Veronica.

The girl he’d seen in the cafeteria had intrigued him. Her disgust and dissatisfaction with her friends and with the high school in general had been visible from across the room. And the smile he’d seen when she opened one of the stupid pictures had made him want to smile too. He wanted to know what else made her smile. He wanted to make her smile again. What he really wanted was to get to know her, but he’d left the choice in her hands. She had his number; if she wanted to talk to him, she would. He tried to content himself with that for the time being.

He thought about driving home, but there wasn’t going to be much happening at the shabby rental house, so he kept driving right past it, and began to wind his way aimlessly through the streets of Sherwood. Finally, he stopped and parked the bike by the school.

The woods behind the school seemed as good a place as any to sit and be alone for a couple hours, so he wandered into the darkness. The night air was cool on his face and the silence was relaxing. JD found a clearing and settled down, leaning against a tree. Once he put his headphones on, he was as happy as he ever was.

It was hard to tell how much time had gone by, but he’d listened to probably twenty songs all the way through when his phone buzzed.

_Unknown: Hey, it’s Veronica. Did you mean what you said earlier?_

JD added her contact to his phone, shocked by how excited her text made him.

_JD: Hi, did I mean what?_

He couldn’t remember all the shit he’d said well enough to know for sure what she was talking about.

_VS: About coming to get me. The party sucks and I just really want to get out of here._

_JD: What’s the address? I’ll be right there._

Veronica texted him the address and he jogged out of the woods and back to his bike. No longer in the mood for a leisurely cruise around the small down, JD pushed the speed limit slightly as he drove to Ram’s house.

The house was lit up and packed full of teenagers, but a small figure stood huddled near the curb, far from the action inside. Veronica.

She ran over to greet him. “Thank you so much! Kurt was being a dick, Heather was driving me crazy, I had a little too much to drink… I hate parties.”

JD smiled, “Me too, let’s get out of here.”

The first stop was McDonalds, because he knew that nothing was better than greasy food when you’ve had too much to drink. They sat on a bench outside to eat it.

"Thanks for doing this for me, I really appreciate it.” Veronica smiled up at him, looking far more relaxed now that they were away from the house.

“It’s nothing, really.” He assured her, “I didn’t have any plans for tonight.” With nothing interesting to say, JD went back to his food.

 

* * *

Veronica watched JD eat and said nothing as the alcohol fog lifted from her brain. She hadn’t really believed him when he’d said it would help—her usual tactic was to wait it out—but she was recovering much faster than she normally did.

In fact, she was clear-headed enough to wonder what the hell she was doing.   She barely knew this guy. She had spoken to him once before, but other than that all she knew was that he’d been in a fight.

As soon as she thought that she felt guilty. That wasn’t the _only_ thing she knew about JD. She knew he was the kind of person who gave someone a ride just because they needed it. He was the kind of person who bought her McDonalds to help her sober up.

“Want the last one?” He held out his box of chicken nuggets, and Veronica made up her mind. Someone who offered you food they would definitely eat if you weren’t there is trustworthy.

Veronica took the nugget. “I know I already said this, but thanks for coming to get me. It was really nice of you.”

JD shrugged and they fell back into their awkward silence. Finally, Veronica couldn’t take it anymore. “So!” She started, desperately searching for something to talk about, “You’re new…” _Really, Veronica? Was that the best you could do?_

But JD smiled, if a little wryly. “Usually, yeah. I move around a lot.”

“How come?” Veronica knew she was grasping desperately at conversational straws, but it was better than sitting in silence.

“My dad’s work. He goes where the jobs are and I go with him. I’ve been to ten high schools in seven states.”

“Holy shit, that makes Westerburg…”

“Yep. Lucky number eleven…” He paused and heaved a sigh, looking out at the road.

“That’s terrible,” Veronica reached out and touched his shoulder.

JD turned and smiled at her, “It’s not so bad. After a while it starts to feel like the only thing that changes is your locker combination.”

Veronica shuddered. “I hate to think that all the other high schools are like Westerburg…”

He leaned over and bumped her shoulder playfully, “Some things are different this time.”

Looking up, Veronica realized how close they were. If she wanted to, she could reach up and kiss him. She kind of wanted too…

Before she had the chance to, JD jumped up and held his hand out to her. “Want to get out of here? Or I can take you home if you want?”

Smiling at his adorable hesitance, Veronica stood up and grabbed his hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “I told my mom I was sleeping over at Heather’s and I really don’t want to explain why plans changed, so let’s hang out for a little longer.”

Veronica climbed onto his motorcycle behind him and held on tight as they sped through the streets of Sherwood. There was something wild and almost magical about the feeling of the wind through her hair and JD’s warm body in front of hers.

He stopped behind the high school and parked the bike, turning to walk into the woods.

“Um, you’re not about to murder me, are you? Because we were off to a pretty good start but I might not be a very good judge of character…” Despite her words, Veronica followed JD up the slight hill and into the trees.

JD snorted, “No, I’m not. I came here earlier; I liked it because it was quiet. We can go somewhere else if you’d rather, but you’ll have to pick it—I don’t know anywhere else.”

Veronica laughed. “This is fine, what’s one more bad decision tonight, right?”

“What do you mean? What other bad decisions have you made?” He looked over his shoulder at her, brow furrowed.

“Going to that party? Letting Kurt Kelly get me drunk? Mouthing off to Heather Chandler? Plus other smaller things…” She trailed off as they sat down in a clearing, leaning against a large tree. “Honestly, I never should have left the 7-11.”

“That wouldn’t have been a fun night either. Not that you asked for my opinion, but I like the way things worked out.” He smirked at her, barely visible in faint light from distant streetlamps.

“Actually, me too.” Veronica moved a little closer to him, looking up so she could meet his eyes. Just like the moment outside the store earlier, his eyes darted down to her lips for a split second. She sat perfectly still waiting to see what would happen as he slowly closed the space between them.

“Veronica…” He whispered, lips inches from hers, “I’ve wanted to do this all night.”

He kissed her.

It was the sort of kissed described at length in romance novels. Hesitant, sweet, and yet full of passion, his lips moved over hers easily, with none of the clumsy fumbling she’d come to expect from guys her age. He cradled her chin in one hand while she tangled her fingers in his hair, drawing the kiss out even longer.

They were both gasping for breath when they finally broke apart, but they didn’t waste air on speech. As soon as they were recovered, they dove back into each other. This time, all hesitation was gone, and they let their hormones run wild. JD wrapped his arms around her, and Veronica slid her hands down to explore the muscular planes of his back.

They stayed like that for a while, kissing, touching and exploring with no sense of how much time passed.

Finally, just at the point where Veronica was desperate for _more_ , JD pulled away. “Do you want me to stop?” Even his whisper seemed loud after so much time spent in silence.

Veronica smiled and shook her head, letting her wild hair dance around her shoulders. “No.”

JD’s smirk was back in full force. “What’s one more bad decision, right?”


End file.
